Voda gets in with a 4G phone for $99, Spotify included

We’re seeing so many 3G budget phones that sometimes you forget we’re living in a 4G world, but Vodafone, it seems, hasn’t forgotten, ready with a budget LTE phone.

If you’re looking for a new phone, but you don’t want a big plan or a big outright spend, you’ll know by now that inexpensive phones are out there, but that so few of them are capable of 4G.

In fact, in 2014, we’re seeing the 4G entry point feeling closer to the $200-250 mark, which seems a little higher than what 2013 brought, but it is what it is.

Or it is what it is until Vodafone comes along, and it’s here with a $99 4G phone.

For Vodafone, it will be offering the Huawei Ascend Y550 4G phone, a budget smartphone offering Category 4 compliant 4G connectivity, meaning speeds as high as 150Mbps are possible on the Vodafone network.

The phone will also offer a 4.5 inch 854×480 screen, low in the grand scheme of things, though it should be big enough for many out there. It’s also relatively up-to-date, with Android 4.4.2 “KitKat” relied on here, as well as a 5 megapixel rear camera with flash, 2 megapixel front-facing camera, 4GB storage built in with room to move via a microSD slot, 1GB RAM, and a quad-core 1.2GHz processor.

“One of the biggest attractions of the Huawei Ascend Y550, aside from its price tag, is that it runs Android KitKat and supports up to LTE Cat 4 speeds,” said Ben McIntosh, Director of Sales at Vodafone in Australia.

“Most importantly, it has the same operating system and data capability found in smartphones two or three times the price.”

The phone is unsurprisingly locked to Vodafone — hey, it’s a $99 phone, what did you expect? — but will come with a complimentary three month subscription to Spotify, a similar package to what Vodafone began offering last week to customers on its Red plans, with 6, 12, and 24 month Spotify subscriptions depending on the plan.

“Vodafone is committed to making 4G accessible and a large part of this promise to consumers is ensuring we offer a great range of affordable smartphones to complement our data-packed 4G plans,” said Mr McIntosh.

Vodafone’s Huawei Ascend Y550 can be found now in Australian stores for $99.